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1/16/2026
By Bridget Dean, Associate Editor
When the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games kick off in Los Angeles in July 2028, it will be the city’s third time hosting the Olympics and its first time hosting the Paralympics. Los Angeles officials have vowed they’ll take a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to hosting the events — and that promise extends to public transportation.
It will be a challenge to move the millions of visitors anticipated to descend on Southern California come July 2028. More than 15,000 athletes, 15 million spectators and upward of 24,000 members of the press will require transportation between the more than 40 venues to be used for the 2028 Games.
At the same time, Southern California’s workforce and Los Angeles residents hope the games and related commotion will present minimal disruption to their own challenging commutes: Even without a global sports event taking place, the city ranks among the top 10 most congested cities in the world, according to INRIX’s 2025 Global Traffic scorecard. Accordingly, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) has been making strategic service improvements and transit system expansions to serve what will be higher-than-usual ridership during the 2028 Games.
Los Angeles was named host city in 2017, and in its bid to host, the city emphasized its focus on sustainability, saying it would bolster public transportation and promote the use of zero-emission vehicles in what city officials call a “transit-first” strategy. As operator of the subway, light rail and bus system that will be critical for moving spectators during the 2028 Games, LA Metro plays a big role in the promotion of and planning systems behind the transit-first strategy.
Los Angeles first hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932. The city welcomed just over 100,000 spectators, according to the 2028 Games organizing committee’s website.
The 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics drew about 600,000 athletes and spectators. To minimize automobile traffic, city officials coordinated fleets of buses for athletes and spectators. Residents were encouraged to avoid driving, and businesses were asked to spread out employee work hours, then-LA Metro Chief Planning Officer Jim de la Loza told Progressive Railroading in a 2019 interview.
The Olympics have changed significantly since 1984, as has Los Angeles. One of the biggest amenities the city has to offer in 2028 that it didn’t have in 1984 is passenger-rail service. As of December 2025, LA Metro operates 128.3 miles of rail service across two subway lines and four light-rail lines.
The transit authority started preparing for the 2028 Games shortly after Los Angeles was named host. It has already completed several rail extension projects and expanded its fleet of zero-emission buses, among other reliability and capacity improvements. For the 2028 Games, LA Metro plans to operate a “significantly more robust and multimodal transportation system” than its predecessor did in 1984, LA Metro officials said in an email.
Come summer 2028, the authority anticipates that most major competition venues will be accessible by LA Metro transit service to encourage the use of public transit and zero-emission travel options (including walking and biking) instead of personal automotive vehicles, LA Metro officials said. The transit line expansions will not only support the 2028 Games traffic, but Los Angeles residents for years to come, they added.
Having a strong public transportation network also supports Los Angeles and the organizing committee’s goal to reduce carbon emissions from event-related transportation. By encouraging the use of low-emission buses and rail transportation, the city aims to reduce emissions from idling motor vehicles. Sustainability benefits aside, reducing traffic makes it easier for 2028 Games staff, athletes and other officials to move between venues quickly.
For Olympic and Paralympic Games host cities, having reliable and fast transportation to, from and between venues is crucial. Mobility planning starts long before the Games. Shortly after being named host city in 2017, Los Angeles and the organizing committee formed the Games Mobility Executives (GMEs) to coordinate and oversee all transportation-related construction projects and operations related to the 2028 Games.
LA Metro, California commuter railroads Caltrans and Metrolink, the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) are members.
Together, the GMEs identified the transportation priorities and action items to complete before 2028 and designated those responsibilities among its members. LA Metro officials worked with other GME members and government partners at federal, state and local levels to determine what system expansions, repairs and accessibility improvements are needed across its light-rail and subway networks before the 2028 Games, authority officials said.
Many of the projects identified by the executives are also on LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative. First shared in 2018, the $20 billion initiative created a list of 28 transit improvement projects that were already slated for completion before 2028 or could be accelerated to wrap before the Games, LA Metro officials said. LA Metro revised the list in 2024 to replace projects that could not be completed in time with ones that better align with the GME priorities.
As of December 2025, LA Metro has completed nine of 28 projects, including several major rail expansions. Many more are in construction or design phases, and seven remain in the planning stage. Completed projects include state-of-good-repair work on the LA Metro’s oldest light-rail line, the A Line; the launch of K Line light-rail service along the Crenshaw Corridor, the creation of a bike and pedestrian pathway between K Line and A Line stations; and the opening of three new Downtown Los Angeles light-rail stations on the A and E Lines as part of the Regional Connector program.
In June 2025, LA Metro completed a major light-rail project when it opened the $900 million transit center at the Los Angeles International Airport. The transit hub connects the airport to the C and K light-rail lines, local bus routes and airport shuttles. The location is designed to improve local transportation for millions of annual visitors, including many 2028 Games attendees, said LA Metro officials. Travelers will be able to take K Line light-rail service from the airport to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a city in southwestern Los Angeles County. The stadium is set to host several sporting events during the 2028 Games.
The most recent of the Twenty-Eight by ’28 construction projects wrapped up in September 2025, when LA Metro opened a long-awaited $1.5 billion extension of the A Line light-rail service to Pomona. The 9.1-mile extension added four stations to the A Line, bringing its total length to 57.5 miles with 48 stations. It’s the world’s longest light-rail line, said LA Metro officials.
“This extension strengthens access for local communities, supports 19 nearby colleges and universities, and connects directly to the Pomona Fairplex, which is set to host cricket matches during the 2028 Games,” they added.
One of the few rail projects not yet completed in Twenty-Eight by ’28 is the D Line subway extension, which carries a $9.7 billion price tag. LA Metro is constructing the 9-mile extension in three segments, and the full opening is slated for fall 2027. At full build out, the D Line will span about 14 miles, connecting Downtown Los Angeles to the Westwood neighborhood and the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The 9-mile extension will include seven new stations between Koreatown and Westwood, with one station located at the University of California-Los Angeles, where the Olympic Village will be located to house athletes during the 2028 Games.
Along with rail system expansions, LA Metro plans to handle the unprecedented ridership during the 2028 Games — estimated at 1 million additional boardings per day — by borrowing bus fleets from other transit agencies to increase service.
While planning and preparing for the 2028 Games, LA Metro is balancing the short-term needs of event attendees with the long-term priorities of Los Angeles County residents and taxpayers. Funding for the projects comes in part from local sales tax revenue. Los Angeles County voters in 2016 approved Measure M, a half-cent sales tax that supports long-term transportation expansion projects such as the Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative.
LA Metro is also relying on federal funding. The authority in March 2024 received a $139 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant program. This funding supports the construction of bus-only lanes and “mobility hubs” or commuter lots, among other projects, LA Metro officials said.
The authority is also lobbying for funding through the fiscal-year 2026 federal transportation appropriation process, authority officials said. Historically, federal funds have been allocated for Olympics and Paralympics-related transportation projects, such as in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and in Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, they added.
But like many public agencies, LA Metro is facing inflation, uncertainty regarding federal funding and supply chain constraints. The transit authority is managing financial risk by using a phased project delivery method and keeping tight cost controls, LA Metro officials said.
As another financial risk mitigation strategy, LA Metro aligned its 2028 Games priority projects with existing long-term expansion and improvement plans. By doing so, LA Metro ensures the investments in its transit network support both the short-term demands of 2028 Games and the long-term transportation needs of Los Angeles County residents, LA Metro officials said.
LA Metro is on track to complete its priority transportation projects prior to the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on July 14, 2028, and the improvements to Los Angeles’ transportation will remain long after the Paralympic Games wrap on Aug. 27, 2028.
“These projects go well beyond building rail lines; they are intended to support healthier, more connected communities by making it easier to travel whether by transit, biking or walking,” said LA Metro officials.